Chasing the scent of Love, Truth, Beauty, and Mirth, wherever it may lead.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Blessed by Social Securiy

The
Short History of a Grateful Beneficiary

Most
liberals believe that society should do something to protect “the most
vulnerable among us,” as politicians like to phrase it. That means the very
young, the elderly, and the poor—people who can’t work at regular jobs for
various, pre-approved reasons.

Thank you, FDR!

At
72, I reluctantly admit I fall into the elderly class, and on top of that I’ve
been poor most of my adult life because I rarely held a full-time, paying job.
For over 30 years now I’ve worked at what I love—creating performances in small
theater spaces.

At
one theater where I was a co-founder a board member asked us—the artistic
staff—to keep track of the hours we put in over a certain number of weeks. This
had something to do with fund-raising.

I
think I was the only one who kept track of my hours, but I did it diligently. I
learned—and reported back to the board—that I was working for the theater about
70 hours a week. Without pay.

That’s
an example of why I’m poor. Why I’m elderly is a matter of fate. People just
age. Nothing I could do about it, except die, and so far Death has been only
mildly interested in me.

So
I am among those who most liberals believe society should protect. It seems
many if not most conservatives disagree. Naturally that means I support liberal
politicians.

But
because of my sporadic work record I had no idea I would ever qualify for
Social Security. I assumed not. Imagine, then, my shock and surprise when a
letter arrived informing me that I was eligible for benefits at my 62nd
birthday, just a few months away. The amount, if I

took it then rather than later, would be
several hundred dollars a month. If I waited, I could get more. But it was a
monthly stipend! It’s what I needed all my life!

I
gladly took the government’s deal while I also and continued working, putting
more away in my Social Security retirement plan each year, watching my monthly
stipend rise. I thought—and still think—it’s a pretty good program, and an
honest one, too. I don’t feel I cheated anybody by my good fortune in having
that benefit.

But
then the economy went bad because a lot of people did cheat, collecting
enormous benefits. One of my jobs—contributing writer for a weekly
newspaper—disappeared. I also had a heart attack. I was 68. Two years later I
broke a hip in a stupid fall out of our loft bed. A year and a half after that
I reinjured it in another stupid fall from a bicycle. Now, hobbling about as I
do, I may not be physically able to continue at a job I’ve relied upon for 17
years—Custodian at ChristUnitedMethodistChurch (part time).

So
when plutocrats and politicians talk about cutting Social Security, they’re
talking about holding back a few dollars from people like me to cover all the
billions they lost through reckless speculation. They want me and people like
me and even people far better off than me to cover the debts they ran up
because of their own and their cronies’ gambling addictions.

But
what if many or most or all debts were simply forgiven and we started over
afresh? I think the Jews call that Jubilee, so it’s not against religion.
People who have walked away from bad mortgages report a new lease on life. And
some developing countries are doing better today because they unilaterally
cancelled their debts for loans from the U.S.-controlled World Bank.

I
hear what the politicians say, I see what they do, and they reflect back to me
a world that’s all about money, a world controlled by self-interest. But is
that true? That there’s no freedom, no power, no privilege without money? No
paradise you don’t have to pay for? No security in a world of financial
predators?

It’s
very hard for me to believe the world is really like that. But if I did believe
it, I suppose I’d be a conservative, too.